


Fear Not This Night

by KoraOfTheBlushingDawn



Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Asura - Freeform, Charr (Guild Wars), Death, F/M, Life after death of a loved one, Mordrem, Pale Tree - Freeform, Romance, Sylvari (Guild Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 22:44:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15806049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KoraOfTheBlushingDawn/pseuds/KoraOfTheBlushingDawn
Summary: I asked Twitter how I should celebrate once I reached 500 followers and the votes came in overwhelmingly in favor of me writing a short story. I only hope I did Tyria justice. This was orginally posted on my Tumblr (guildlores.tumblr.com)Name pronunciations: Uilliam (UHL+yahm) & Aibhlinn (AVE+leen)





	Fear Not This Night

**Author's Note:**

> I asked Twitter how I should celebrate once I reached 500 followers and the votes came in overwhelmingly in favor of me writing a short story. I only hope I did Tyria justice. This was orginally posted on my Tumblr (guildlores.tumblr.com)
> 
> Name pronunciations: Uilliam (UHL+yahm) & Aibhlinn (AVE+leen)

“Ware!” Uilliam’s voice echoed through the ravine.

Aibhlinn threw herself across the moss covered ground, narrowly avoiding the blast of elemental fire that scorched the rock wall behind her.

She pushed to one knee, notched an arrow, and loosed the poisoned projectile at the Nightmare Court elementalist.

A gust of wind forced it to veer from its intended target. Instead, it struck the ground before a female courtier’s feet and released a noxious cloud.

Using the momentary distraction, Aibhlinn pulled a seed from the bag at her hip and threw it down.

The seed turret sprouted and the calla lily-like bloom took aim. Barbed thistles that exploded upon impact shot out in rapid fire, covering several courtiers in tiny stinging nettle spines.

Golden sap oozed from the courtuers various cuts and punctures.

Uilliam cast Virtue of Resolve.

Divine light washed over Aibhlinn, healing a few of the more minor wounds she’d received thus far in the battle…but she knew it wouldn’t be enough. His skills as a Guardian would not save them this day.

The Nightmare Court had laid their trap with elaborate care and the two Wardens were now deeply ensnared by their own brothers and sisters.

The Nightmare Court. Sylvari who’d turned their back on the Pale Tree, the teachings of Ventari, and sought to corrupt other members of their race through kidnappings and torture.

Aibhlinn knew capture was close at hand. The pair would be brutalized - both physically and mentally - until they fell into nightmare. If they were lucky, perhaps their bodies would give out before their minds.

Death was better than becoming a cruel distortion of oneself.

As hope faded, Aibhlinn spotted several great boulders at the top of the ravine. She drew back her bowstring and prayed for the Pale Tree to guide her arrow.

It flew true.

The concussion shot thundered up and down the canyon.

“Aibhlinn! No!” Uilliam called out as the rock slide created a massive wall in the ravine. Uilliam on one side. The Courtiers and Aibhlinn on the other.

“What a bothersome sprout you are,” said a male courtier as he kicked aside the fallen body of one of his bone minions.

“Better one than none,” the elementalist said as she brushed dirt from the petals of her billowing dress.

“I’d rather we had that captured that tall oak of a guardian than this common ragwort,” said a female warrior whose leaves were as pale blue as the clear sky overhead.

A tendril of fear wrapped itself around Aibhlinn when she realized this was no common Nightmare warrior.

A Court Knight stood before her.

“You twisted vines will never get your thorns into Uilliam,” Aibhlinn said with more bravado than she felt.

“Ignorant pigweed. Know your place!” The knight attacked.

The scuffle was quick and ended with Aibhlinn disarmed and bound with hands behind her back.

“Get off me you gall mite-ridden dodder!”

“Take her to Briarthorn Den. I’ll see to her indoctrination myself.”

###

Pain came swiftly and without end.

Aibhlinn drifted in and out of consciousness - for how long, she could not say - but when she regained awareness, cold earth pressed against her back.

She rolled over, intent on pushing to her knees, and barely stopped herself from screaming out in agony.

They’d broken the branch in her leg.

Unwilling to provide the guards the satisfaction of hearing her cry, Aibhlinn pressed her face to the ground and beat her fist upon the soil with slow rhythmic thumps as she waited for the wave of pain to pass.

“Mother…I’m so frightened. I feel the Nightmare encircling me and I fear I will fall just to escape this suffering,” Aibhlinn whispered into the night.

She did not expect a reply. After all, she was but one of thousands among the Pale Tree’s sons and daughters.

The voice came drifting on the wind and tenderly caressed the edges of Aibhlinn’s weary mind.

‘Fear not this night, my dawn blossom. Your heartwood is strong. You will not go astray. Endure but a little longer for hope is just a sunrise away.’

###

The Wardens attacked at first light.

Uilliam must have rallied near all the forces in Caledon Forest for they took the Den with great speed and little loss to themselves.

The bars to her cage - and to all the prisoner cages – were soon cut down.

She kept herself composed until Uilliam crouched beside her and, with trembling hand, caressed her cheek.

Despite her many injuries, the first words to tumble from her lips were, “They plucked all the lovely flowers from my branches.”

“Ah, Morning Glory…you are a bit trampled at the moment, but still I find I can’t think of a lovelier sight.” He wrapped his arms around her.

“Take me away from this horrid place,” she sobbed into his neck.

“Gladly.” His arms gently lifted her. As he strode with her out of the shadows into the warm sunlight, he gave one last command to the troop of Wardens. “Burn it down. All of it.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Aibhlinn sniffled. “They’ll just grow it back. If not here, then someplace else.”

“Aye. But not this day…not this day.”

###

The Grove’s menders tended to Aibhlinn’s physical wounds.

Setting a broken leg was an easy fix.

The fear and the dreams were another matter entirely.

She often woke screaming. Only Uilliam’s strong arms wrapped tightly around her and his comforting voice in her ear could pull her out of the nightmare.

Where Caledon Forest had once been a home to her, second only to the Grove, it soon became a prison.

Relief came the day members of the Pact arrived, searching for new recruits to fight against Zhaitan.

Uilliam’s eyes lit with the desire to join the battle against the undead elder dragon, but when he turned to Aibhlinn, he hesitated. His concern washed over her through the ephemeral bond shared by all Sylvari.

After all she’d suffered, he would not leave her, and neither would he ask her to risk herself against a foe more dangerous than the Court.

Aibhlinn placed her hand to his chest and smiled for the first time in so long. “I will happily follow where you lead, dearest one.”

For months, the pair fought shoulder to shoulder with many of Tyria’s bravest. Together they marched on Orr and boarded the Pact fleet for the final assault on the dragon.

When the beast fell and their allies threw their arms up in celebration, they threw their arms around each other.

“That’s one,” Uilliam said next to her ear to be heard over the cheers and celebratory cannon fire.

“Only five more to go,” Aibhlinn replied.

“Aye, once Tyria is safe from the threat of the dragons, perhaps we can convince the Pact to turn their attentions to the elimination of the Court.”

Aibhlinn shuddered. “We’ve just killed a dragon. Can’t you be happy with that?”

“I am happy, but I will never be satisfied until Tyria is purified from the evil of the Nightmare Court.”

His words echoed in her head months later when the Fleet once again took to the sky.

Mordremoth’s vines had a stranglehold on Tyria and the Pact was eager to cut the Jungle Dragon down…too eager.

The assault on her mind came without warning and Aibhlinn fell to her knees, mentally fighting against the dragon’s call.

‘I did not fall to the Courtier’s efforts to corrupt me. I will not fall to yours.’

She staggered to her feet as a scream rent the air behind her. She spun, arrow nocked, and nearly dropped her bow at the sight before her.

“Uilliam…What have you done?”

He pulled his sword free from Plomm and the tiny asura fell to the deck of the airship with a clatter of his armor.

“Ah, Morning Glory, don’t you see? Mordremoth is the answer to the problem of the Nightmare Court.”

“W-what?”

“All will serve the Jungle Dragon. No more Court. No more Grove. The dragon unites us and together we shall purge the land of the impurities of the other races. The children of Mordremoth will inherit Tyria.”

“No! Stop this nonsense at once, Uilliam.” Through the sylvari bond, Aibhlinn reached out to him.

“Oh—oh, no,” she moaned when she couldn’t feel him.

He stood before her, but it was as if there was a negative space. She felt for his presence and found only an empty Uilliam-shaped hole. Nothing of him remained.

“Dearest…Please…come back to me.”

“If you will not come willingly then I must force you to understand.”

“You sound like the courtiers who tortured me.”

Rage distorted Uilliam’s face into an unfamiliar and terrifying sight.

He raised his sword and Aibhlinn closed her eyes, waiting for him to cut her down.

He was her beloved.

It was only fitting that she fall by his hand rather than live on without him.

“Plomm! You stupid salads killed him!” Jixxi cried out.

Aibhlinn opened her eyes as Uilliam spun to attack the female asura. “No!”

“Ugh!” Uilliam’s sword fell from his hand when Aibhlinn’s two arrows embedded themselves in his back.

“You…will all s-serve the—” A third arrow pierced his body and his voice went silent as he fell.

Aibhlinn took a step towards him but stilled when Jixxi held up her wand.

“Come any closer and I’ll turn you into firewood!”

“I’m not—I’m not like him,” Aibhlinn said.

Before Jixxi could decide how to respond the airship turned nose down.

“Sparks! We’re going to crash!”

“Aye. Right into the heart of the jungle.”

Aibhlinn gave Uilliam’s body one last look then sprung forward as the ship lurched beneath her feet. She grabbed Jixxi under one arm and scooped up Plomm with the other, breathing a sigh of relief when the tiny being cried out in pain.

He wasn’t dead…yet.

“Put us down you overgrown shrub. Turncoat! The asura should have taken hedge clippers to the lot of you when our races first crossed paths.”

“Sorry, Jixxi,“ Aibhlinn said calmly, “but you’ll have to wait to kill me until after I’m done saving our lives.”

The ship listed to the starboard side. Aibhlinn placed the pair of asura in the corner of two walls.

With no time to spare, she pulled a handful of seeds from her bag, cast them to the floor, and then curled her body over the asura as the entangling vines surrounded the trio.

The ship smashed through the jungle’s canopy, tearing itself apart on the trees. Each crash and bump felt like the ship trying to shake the little cocoon free, but the vines held tight.

When at last they came to a shuddering stop, Aibhlinn nudged the vines back until they withered away on their own.

The jungle surrounding them was filled with fire and the screams of the dying.

Aibhlinn glanced around for Uilliam’s body but saw it nowhere.

The jungle dragon had truly taken all of him from her.

She collapsed to her knees and wrapped her arms around herself.

‘Mother, what do I do now? He was my love…my everything. How can I walk through this life without him?’

The Pale Tree did not answer.

“Plomm, you dunderhead! How dare you almost die! You promised to build me an updated lab when we got back to Rata Sum!”

“It’s good to see you too, Jixxi.”

“Are there any survivors over here?” a voice called out.

“Stop shouting you fool! You’ll lead the enemy right to our position!”

Aibhlinn remained where she sat as a small group of what appeared to be human nobility trudged up the hill.

“Thank Dwayna, we found you!” one of the battered women said. “Now, you can protect us.”

“Protect you,” Jixxi said with disgust. “We haven’t even figured out how we’re going to protect ourselves yet.”

Aibhlinn stood slowly. “We need to arm ourselves. We should be able to salvage some weapons from what remains of the ship.”

“Gods save us! It’s one of them!” A man cried out and backed away from Aibhlinn, tripping over a piece of debris in his haste.

Aibhlinn flinched away from the words as if they were physical blows.

“Calm down, Booka Breath. She’s on our side,” Jixxi said and hurried to stand between Aibhlinn and the humans.

“Quickly! Kill it before it kills us!” the man continued.

“I thought you wanted our protection, but if you’ve changed your mind the path is that way,” Jixxi said and pointed back down the hill from where the group had come.

The thought of fending for themselves had the humans quickly silencing their condemnation.

“As I was saying,” Aibhlinn continued, “everyone here needs to find a weapon then we need to move out and find a defensible position before nightfall. Do any of you know any healing spells?”

The group looked to each other before one dark haired woman raised a hand.

“My governess was a priestess of Dwayna. She taught me a few things.”

“She would have taught you a few more if you’d paid half as much attention to her as you did to that Seraph assigned to protect father,” another woman interjected.

“I never—“

“No, but you wanted too.”

“Enough!” Aibhlinn ordered. “You can argue later. Plomm needs healing…Now!”

Once the group had scavenged all they could carry, and Plomm was stable enough to move, they headed out.

By the time they’d found a good spot to dig in for the night, they’d picked up two towering male Norn and a female charr who promised to cut Aibhlinn in half at the first sign of corruption.

Aibhlinn simply nodded and said, “Thank you. I would greatly appreciate if you did.”

The charr – who’s name Aibhlinn would later learn was Cosmas Sharpscrape – appeared momentarily taken aback, but she recovered with a grunt and a decisive nod of her head then walked over to the Norn to help build the fortifications.

Night and day and night passed, marked only by each battle survived.

The group continued to grow in size - as did the boundaries of the camp with each new survivor found.

It was during a rare period of quiet when Aibhlinn and Cosmas were patrolling the camp - searching for areas of weakness that needed reinforcing before the next mordrem assault - that the unexpected happened.

Aibhlinn’s hand flew to her chest. She would have tripped had she not grabbed the fur on Cosmas’s arm with her other hand.

“Cinder and soot! Watch where you’re grabbin—“

“Gone…gone. Oh!” Aibhlinn lifted her face toward the sky. “He’s gone.”

“You better start making sense real soon ‘cause I’d hate to turn you into chopped salad just when I was starting to like you,” Cosmas said deadly serious.

Aibhlinn noticed that everyone nearby had gone still.

A few clutched their weapons at the ready as they searched for any sign that she had fallen to the dragon’s call.

She took a moment to compose herself then said loud enough for all to hear, “Mordremoth is dead!”

Many gasped. Most looked afraid to believe.

“She’s lying.”

“The Commander…The Commander did it!”

“It’s got to be a trick!”

“But what if it’s true?”

Aibhlinn spoke over the frantic and hopeful voices. “From the moment we crashed in this jungle, I’ve felt the dragon’s presence. His voice, an unwelcome guest in my own mind. But just now…it fell silent. It feels as though the jungle itself shivered and let out a sigh of relief. Mordremoth has been defeated!”

Cheers went up.

“Fools. It’s like they’ve forgotten we’re still deep in enemy territory. Just because the dragon’s dead doesn’t mean his minions won’t keep attacking,” Cosmas said and crossed her arms.

“Allow them a few minutes to celebrate before you remind them.” Aibhlinn smiled. “But just a few, we still need that western barricade reinforced.”

She left the Charr and headed back to her tent.

The canvas flap settled behind her and she whispered to the shadows, “That’s two. Oh, Uilliam. You were supposed to be here with me.”

She buried her face in her hands and wept. “It’s not fair. You were the bravest sylvari I’d ever known…It doesn’t make any sense. Why did you fall and not I? How could you leave me here alone? What about all those grand adventures you promised to lead me on? What do I do now?”

A breeze ruffled the walls of the tent and a calming presence filled her mind.

‘You were never meant to follow, Valiant.’

“Mother? I don’t-I don’t understand. I’m not a valiant.”

Before she could question the Pale Tree further, a curious sensation pulled at Aibhlinn’s soul. Like a seed finally turning sprout.

“Hey, Boss! We need you out here!” Cosmas called through the thin cloth wall.

Aibhlinn wiped the tears from her cheeks and drew a steadying breath.

“I know.”


End file.
